The present invention relates to the sale and distribution of articles associated with live events. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of selling recordings of a live event and other event-specific articles at a point of sale of tickets for the live event before the live event has taken place or before another specified cut-off date. The present invention also relates to a method of licensing live event ticket purchasers to make their own recordings of the live event they attend.
According to statistics published by the Recording Industry Association of America, approximately 62 million people attended approximately 27,000 live events around the world. Such events included live musical performances (e.g., concerts, operas, etc.), live choreographic performances and live dramatic performances (e.g., plays, theater, etc.). Millions more attend live events comprising live orations (e.g., motivational speakers, evangelical speakers, educational speakers, etc.), live sporting events, and other live events. Statistics published by the Recording Industry Association of America also indicate that, U.S. sales of recorded music alone in the year 2000 amounted to approximately $14.3 billion, and sales of recorded music globally amounted to approximately $38.5 billion in 2000. It is evident from these statistics that the live event and recording industries are significant segments of our domestic and global economies involving a large percentage of our population.
Millions of copies of recordings of live events (e.g., live concert albums; video recordings of concerts and theatrical performances; audio recordings, video recordings and printed transcripts from live orations, etc.) are sold each year. However, conventionally, such copies are not sold or even offered for sale until well after the live event has been conducted and recorded. Thus, it is often difficult for recording companies to accurately gauge an appropriate level of production relative to predicted demand.
According to more statistics published by the Recording Industry Association of America, the average wholesale distribution price of a compact disc (CD) in the year 2000 was $9.95 per unit, and the average retail price per unit was approximately $12.75. Of the $9.95 per unit wholesale distribution price, the record company makes an average of approximately $8.00 and the artist makes an average of approximately $1.95. Even more significant is the amount of money spent in marketing and promoting new releases.
Unfortunately for the record companies and artists, less than 10% of new releases are profitable, according to Recording Industry Association of America statistics. This low percentage of success is largely due to the aforementioned fact that recording companies often have difficulty accurately gauging an appropriate level of production relative to predicted demand for a particular release. Thus, there is a need for a convenient mechanism for recording companies and artists to predict demand for a particular recording of a live event, before the costs of conducting the live event, recording the live event, producing copies of the recording, and marketing and promoting the release have been incurred, in order to gauge a desirable number of copies of the live event recordings (or other event-specific merchandise) to be produced, thereby increasing the likelihood of profitability.
To increase the likelihood of profitability in selling their live event recordings and other event-specific merchandise, recording companies and artists endeavor to find venues that are most likely to cover their target demographic. For live concert albums, and other audio and video recordings of concerts and theatrical performances, perhaps the most common point-of-sale has been record stores, book stores and, more recently, on-line retailers of records and other recordings, such as Amazon.com. While record stores and other traditional retail establishments are logical points-of-sale in which to sell live event recordings, recording companies and artists have not taken full advantage of the live events themselves (which, again, attract approximately 62 million people annually) as points-of-sale.
People attend music concerts, theatrical performances and other live events for many obvious reasons. One of these reasons is that the attendees, in many cases, are amongst the most fervent supporters or “fans” of the artists or other performers that are performing. These live event attendees are in fact the target audience. Until now, recording companies and artists have failed to take full advantage of the fact that their target audience is already captured at these live events. These attendees or “fans” are typically at their most frenzied point of anticipation when buying tickets for the live events they plan to attend. Depending on the venue and performer, music concertgoers often pay upwards of $60 to $120 for a single concert ticket. At the events themselves, elated fans happily pay $15 for coffee mugs, $35 for concert-related T-shirts, and $25 for official concert programs. Thus, recording companies and artists could benefit from a system that takes advantage of the enthusiasm of prospective live event ticket purchasers, at the pinnacle of their purchasing frenzy, by providing them with a convenient opportunity to purchase copies of a recording of the live event (or other event-specific merchandise) at the point-of-sale of tickets for the live event, either before the live event has taken place or before some other specified cut-off date. Moreover, the opportunity to pre-purchase recordings may, in turn, generate more interest in the live event itself.
Such a system would not only provide recording companies, artists and other rights holders with a mechanism for obtaining additional revenue from live events they conduct, but would also help to curb the unauthorized recording of live events (i.e., “bootlegging”) by event attendees, because such attendees would be given an opportunity to purchase a professional recording (or a professionally produced, post-event re-broadcast) of the live event they will attend. Prior to the advent of the Internet and the proliferation of hand-held digital recording equipment, the recording industry had the luxury of substantially controlling the production and distribution of live event recordings. However, technology has now advanced to a level where individuals can record live events on their own, edit the recordings with the assistance of relatively inexpensive computer software, reproduce copies of the recording as electronically transmittable/downloadable files (e.g., MP3, WMA, etc.) or on compact discs with a CD “burner” or similar equipment, and then distribute the copies. With the advent of the Internet, the ability to share and distribute music and other types of live event recordings has become increasingly commonplace. Thus, there is a need for a system that would provide recording companies, artists and other rights holders with an effective mechanism for reducing unauthorized “bootlegging” by event attendees and for obtaining additional revenue in the process.